Virtual Reality and Haptics,
touch computer world by hand

Workshop leader background:
My name is Ludek Pokluda and I'm phd student at Faculty of Informatics. I do research about using haptic (virtual reality) for visually impaired people for navigation/orientation in buildings. The device (called PHANToM) we use in our experiment is a kind of a robot arm which You can grasp and move it in some limited area. It is able to emmit force (7N only, so it is safe) on You and via this force-feedback You can fell/touch the object which is stored in computer memory.

Co-tutor:
Jan Flasar or Vit Kovalcik. They both work in our laboratory.

worshop:
0.Short interview about Your knowledge of computer and about orientation in real buildings (it doest not mean You have to be good at it, we just want to know what You are able to do to choose best technique to You).
1.We will start with presenting the device to You by showing some simple object which You can touch.
2.Then if You will want we will do some tasks. This tasks will be used for further research about navigation/orientation in building.
	3.Exploring a model of a building.
	4.Reading a plan of building (a map).
	5.Using special "tool" for navigation in space.
6.Some summary interview about which tasks did You like.
7.The whole session will be about 2 hours long.

Students pre-requisites:
The only pre-requisite is a basic ability of holding and moving pen-like gadget. 


Aim of workshop:
We want to let You experiance Haptic Virtual Reality.
It is very exciting to touch an object, which doestn't exist! 
(Touching computer generated objects via special gadget).

Hardware:
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Software:
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